1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video recording apparatus for recording a television program, and more particularly, to a method for comparing a running time of the television program to be recorded with a residual quantity of a recording medium, so as to record the television program on the recording medium with an optimal image compression ratio.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a broadcasting station provides a broadcasting program information service, such as KBPS (Korea Broadcasting Program Service) in the Republic of Korea. For that purpose, the broadcasting station broadcasts the television program together with broadcasting program information which includes a televising time, a running time and a classification of the television program, and the name of the broadcasting station, etc.
Upon receiving the broadcasting program information broadcast from the broadcasting station, a video recording apparatus, such as a video cassette recorder (VCR) or a digital video disc (DVD) system combined with a television receiver, detects the televising time of the television program to punctually record the television program on a recording medium. Further, the video recording apparatus determines the type and residual quantity of the recording medium on which the television program is to be recorded and a recording mode selected by a user, to determine a recording mode in which the television program is to be recorded, or to generate a warning message in case the residual quantity of the recording medium is not enough to fully record the television program. Commonly, the video recording apparatus compresses an image signal of the television program based on a particular fixed image compression ratio to record the compressed image signal on the recording medium regardless of the residual quantity.
The conventional video recording apparatus records the television program simply based on the type of the recording medium, and the recording mode selected by the user, to the extent of the residual quantity of recording medium. Thus, even in case the residual quantity of the recording medium is large enough, the image signal of the television program is compressed with the fixed image compression ratio, so that the recording medium may have an unrecorded residual portion. However, the unrecorded residual portion is commonly too short to record a new television program thereon, so that the residual portion may be wasted undesirably. Besides, since the television program is compressed with the fixed image compression ratio, the television program can not be recorded with an optimal quality, even in case the recording medium has a sufficient residual quantity.
Thus, the video recording apparatus records the television program in full only when the residual quantity of the recording medium is larger than or equal to the running time of the television program. However, when the residual quantity is somewhat smaller than the running time, a warning message is generated to indicate not to perform the recording operation. In this instance, if the recording operation is performed anyway, the end portion of the television program is not recorded on the recording medium.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for recording a television program on a recording medium, making the best use of a residual quantity of the recording medium.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for recording a television program with an optimal quality according to a residual quantity of a recording medium.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The foregoing objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a video recording apparatus which receives broadcasting program information transmitted from a broadcasting station; detects a running time of the television program to be recorded from the broadcasting program information; detects a residual quantity of a recording medium on which the television program is to be recorded; compares the running time of the television program with the residual quantity of the recording medium to determine an optimal image compression ratio; and records the television program on the recording medium based on the optimal image compression ratio.
Further, the video recording apparatus checks whether or not the residual quantity is large enough to fully record the television program; records the television program on the recording medium based on the optimal image compression ratio, if the residual quantity is sufficient to record the television program; and displays a warning message, if the residual quantity is not sufficient to record the television program.